


school these kids (they can't read)

by BabaTunji



Series: Wakandan Parenting [2]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Cousin Incest, Kid Fic, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24783640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabaTunji/pseuds/BabaTunji
Summary: Erik is a great babysitter.
Relationships: Erik Killmonger/T'Challa, W'Kabi/Okoye
Series: Wakandan Parenting [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792558
Kudos: 30





	school these kids (they can't read)

**Author's Note:**

> Dad!Erik is so much fun and I explored it a bit with 'nine times out of ten'  
> This is an unrelated blurb with different kid OCs, just a little bit of fun.
> 
> Kehlani - 6  
> N’Yami & Isatu- 4  
> Minami - 3
> 
> In the nebulous future where everything is ok.

There is a four year old on his work table. 

“Get off the table, N’Yami.”

Erik has half an eye on the brief he’s supposed to be reading and the other, on one half of the ‘army’ of children, currently making themselves at home in his office. The place is child proofed, but experience tells him anything is possible if he lets it. T’Challa is off at a pan-african conference in Lagos right now so he’s watching not just their twins, but the General’s kids as well. It’s not going as bad as it could be. 

He closes out of his workspace and locks his desktop to stalk over to where Minami, the generals’ youngest, is now attempting to climb. The toddler is three years old and only listens to the general, everyone else is scenery. He scolds her half-heartedly while prying her away from the old shelf before corralling the rest of the children out of his office. 

Once the door slides shut behind them, Erik shoots a look N’Yami’s way and waits for her to take her twin Isatu’s outstretched hand. When Kehlani also offers his hand to N’Yami, Erik starts walking in the general direction of the palace’s central cafe area. They pass some Kingsguard on their way and Erik greets them with a nod, then adjusts his hold on Minami who was trying their best to grab his hair. 

He hasn’t eaten since morning so he’s feeling hungry, but he would have to appease the ‘army’ first. W’Kabi coined the moniker after an expensive incident involving the twins, the general’s eldest child, Kehlani and a ‘stolen’ set of kimoyo beads. Erik puts quotation marks around the word stolen because Shuri had managed to oh so conveniently film the whole misadventure.

“Is it lunchtime, daddy?” Isatu sounds excited. 

“All of you just ate.” It is lunchtime, for Erik not them. He gave in two hours ago to their whines, feeding them snacks just to make them settle down. 

“I’m hungry!” Kehlani’s declaration is met with agreement, including Minami who punctuates their unintelligible yell by trying to poke him in the eye. Erik, simply sighs then re-adjusts the toddlers position on his waist. 

“One snack and one vegetable, no exceptions.” He shoots the last part as Isatu. They were getting a little too good at avoiding his attempts to make them eat healthy. 

“Yes, Uncle!” Kehlani drags out the word ‘uncle’, and the twins join him in a weird chorus. He’s using Border Tribe’s dialect so the twins probably think it sounds funnier than standard Wakandan. Erik mutes the noise the way any experienced parent does. It’s easier to let them make noise than to force them to be quiet. If he’s being honest, they've mostly behaved for him today. He doesn’t expect it to last once Isatu realizes T’Challa won’t be back for another three days. At least with Kehlani and Minami he could return them to their dad come evening time. 

He remembers when they first got the news, they would be having twins. He had liked the idea at the time. One for T'Challa and one for him. No odd age gap and the kids would have a constant companion in each other. His assumption wasn’t wrong, T’Challa did have his favorite as did he. The twins got along enough to spend hours at a time in each other’s company, there were just also… two of them. In the beginning it meant two babies crying, two at times opposing needs to satisfy. He didn’t expect to find it as stressful as it actually was. It helps that T’Challa was just as, if not more overwhelmed than he was. He doesn’t know how people who don’t have an entire community and extended family around them to help, do it. It only seemed to get more complicated the older they get. 

Like now, there’s a short window of time for Erik to eat, get them all to eat and then move to the next activity of the day. If he misses that sweet spot, they won’t cooperate, and he’ll be stuck with cranky, bored and listless toddlers for the remainder of the day. He has the five of them sit at a round table for six. Minami is propped on a highchair next to him, their brother Kehlani adjacent and his twins on the other side. There’s a bit of pushing when it comes to who gets to sit next to him. Isatu wins and N’Yami is still pouting when their food arrives. 

Erik starts to eat, only occasionally having to rescue Minami’s plate from being pushed off the high chair table.

“Hey dad?-“ Erik’s head snaps in the direction of the question and is not disappointed to find N’Yami staring at—wow how had he even gotten that? Wasn’t it normally locked? Or put somewhere inquiring six-year-olds wouldn’t find it? 

“Kehlani please put the flyssa away. ”

W’Kabi told him Kehlani started studying with his mother, and even if he didn’t already know that, the fact that the boy was Okoye’s son meant Erik isn’t too freaked out or worried to see him with a blade the size of his arm. But there are limits, like if his own twins decided to touch said Flyssa with none of the General’s tutelage or frighteningly strong genes. 

“Okay uncle.” He doesn’t do the weird drawl this time thankfully and Erik watches him sheath the Flyssa. Kehlani is the oldest child at the table and ate his food fast, hence him now messing around with the ‘toys’ he brought with him. 

“Dad can I—”    
“No.” He doesn’t need N’Yami to finish her sentence. 

“Kehlani is the only one who is allowed to touch that.” He would definitely be having a chat with W’Kabi later about Kehlani running around with weapons. Doesn’t matter if he knew (presumably) how to use it, it makes Erik uncomfortable. 

“Daddy can  _ I _ go to the restroom please? I need to pee.” Isatu asks after with a suspiciously sweet tone that confirms, N’Yami had probably been about to ask the same question. Erik looks to N’Yami. He hasn’t finished eating yet but if he gets up from this table he’s not coming back. 

“You need to use the restroom too?”    
N’Yami nods, and Erik takes one more bite of his food before starting the process of getting them all up from the table. In theory he could just send N’Yami and Isatu off (and hope for the best) but kids always wanted to pee, so better they went together. 

“We can’t go to the bathroom until Minami finishes her food.” He tells all of them and is answered by twin groans and a friendly poke to Minami from Kehlani. 

The three-year-old isn’t impressed. Erik notes most of the food seems to have ended up on her face and not in her mouth. He cleans up as best he can, giving her a few more minutes to decide if she was done. They all ate an hour before so she could be just full from that. Once the grace period passes he lets everyone else stand up from the table.

“Are we going home now?” Kehlani asks.    
“No, restroom then library.” Seeing the look on the young boy’s face he adds, “Three more hours till your dad comes to get you. Not much longer.” 

“What will we do at the library?” Kehlani doesn’t sound enthused at all. 

“Read! Or play but only if we’re good.” N’Yami answers for him. 

“I don’t want to read. Minami can’t read!” Kehlani seems to be on his way to a tantrum. Erik knew today was too good to be true.

“I’ll read to Minami, and you don’t have to read. The twins have reading to do, but you can do other things.” Erik tries to compromise.   
“What if we don’t want to read daddy? I wanna play with ‘lani.” Isatu starts the beginning of a mutiny. 

“Yeah! We want to play with Kehlani.” N’Yami this time. Minami gives a particularly sharp kick to his side. Erik winces before shifting the toddler to his other hip. 

“You like reading don’t you?” He has to think about what they had been reading last together. “Don’t you want to know what happens to Queen Okoro?” 

“Yes… but what will Kehlani do?” Isatu is hedging now and Erik thanks Bast for the gift. 

“Lets go to the bathroom first, and when we get to the library we’ll figure it out.” Truthfully he had just planned to have all of them read but if Kehlani didn’t want to, they would find something else. 

Three more hours, fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> Okoye/W'Kabi is a fun ship for me and I love thinking about Okoye training their kids and W'Kabi being sort of a stay at home dad (also Border Tribe family structure!)


End file.
